Automatic clutch.



PATENTED MAY 16, 1905.

E. B. STIMPSON.

AUTOMATIC CLUTCH.

AP PLIOATION FILED JULY 1 190:5.

(finch whom: @SM Lv QH OMWW Patented. Ma 16, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN BALL sTIMPSON. OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC CLUTCH.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Paten N 790,085, dated May 16,1905.

' Application filed July 1, 1904. Serial No. 214,936.

T0 0. wf om it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN BALL S'rnursoma citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, in the cityand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Au tomatic Clutches, of which the following is a Thus the attendantof such a machine may when he is ready depress a treadle and set themachine in motion, and when the latter has completed an operation itwill stopof itself.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and eflicientmeans for effecting the above object and also to provide an adjustablebrake which insures the machine being arrested at exactly the desiredpoint.

Another feature-is a means whereby the attendant may, if he desires, soset the escapement device, through the medium of the operating-rod ortreadle-rod, as to permit the machine to make more than one operationbefore it stops.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of theinvention, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the mechanism wherein theinvention is embodied. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation seen from theleft in Fig. 1. The plane of the section is indicated by the line 00 inFig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the right-hand side of the device asthe latter is seen in Fig. 1.. Fig. 4 is a face view of the boss of thedriving-pulley,showing the clutchpins therein. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 aredetail views, on a larger scale than the principal views,showing theclutch-boss on the shaft. Fig. 8 is an enlarged'view of the escapementdevice, illustrating the manner of setting the rocker so as to permitthe machine to make more than one operation.

In the drawings only those parts of a machine which embody the inventionare shown, as these are all that are required to afull understandingthereof. The work to be done by the machine is not important,nor themeans by which the attendant sets the machine in motion. It may beassumed that the machine is a button-setting or eyelet-setting machineof a known kind and that the attendant sets the machine in motionthrough the medium of a treadle and treadle-rod.

1 designates a bracket to be secured to the frame of the machine, and 2designates a bearing therein for the machine driving-shaft 3. On thisshaft is secured a crank-disk 4, provided with a crank-pin 5-, to whichis coupled an operating-rod 6, to be reciprocated by the crank and toimpart the necessary movements to the parts of the machine not shown. Ateach rotation of the shaft 3. the machine completes one operation.

Loose on the shaft 3 is a driving wheel or pulley 7, which will bedriven continuously by a belt, for example. If this continuouslyrotatingpulley be clutched to theshaft, it will drive the latter until theclutch shall be disengaged. The drawings show mechanism for effectingthis engagement and disengagement of the pulley, and this mechanism willnow be described. On the shaft is keyed a clutchboss 8, which hasmounted in it a sliding clutch-bolt 9, the end of which is normallyprotruded from the end or face of the boss (adjacent to the pulley-boss)by a spring 10 (seen in the sectional detail view, Fig. 7) and into thepath of one of a plurality of clutch-pins 11 in the face of thepulley-boss. These pins are seenin Figs. 1 and 4. It may be explainedhere,-with reference to Figs. 5, 6, and 7, that the spring 10 enters ahollow or bore in the bolt 9 and is held in position by a pin 12 on aplate 8, secured to and forming a part of the boss 8. By means of thisplate the bolt is retained after being inserted into its slideway in theboss. On the bolt is an operating -arm 9, which projects out laterallythrough an aperture in the boss and bears on an oblique camway 8 forminone side of said aperture. Figs. 5 and 6 show the bolt end of thisshaft, which is at the right in Fig.

' 1, is secured a ratchet-wheel 14, Fig. 3, en-

gaged by a spring-pawl 15, carried on one arm of a pawl-lever 16, whichrocks on the shaft 13. To the other arm of this lever is coupled anoperating-rod 17, which can be drawn down by the attendant in any waydesired; but it will usually be coupled to a treadle and will be drivenupward by the spring which elevates the treadle. These features are notshown herein, as a treadle, treadle-rod, and spring are common inmachines of this type and their operation is well understood. Moreover,it is not essential to this invention that the pawl 15 shall be operatedby a treadle and rod in order to transmit intermittent rotary motion tothe ratchet-wheel 1 1.

On the shaft 13, and as here shown at the left in Fig. 1, is secured anescapement-wheel 18, somewhat in the form of a ratchet-wheel, Figs. 2and 8, and mounted to rock on a hearing on the bracket 1 is a rockercomprising a pawl 19, which engages the teeth of the escapement-wheel18,and a deten t-arm 20, which occupies normally a position in the path ofthe operating-arm 9 of the bolt 9. The rocker has a spring 21, Fig. 2,which holds its arm 19 in engagement yieldingly with theescapement-wheel.

\Vhen the machine is at rest and the pulley 7 running, the bolt 9 willbe drawn back, as in Fig. 6, by pressure of its arm 9 against thedetent-arm 20 of the rocker.

To set the machine in motion, the attendant, through a treadle, forexample, draws down the rod 17, thus causing the pawl 15, by engagementwith the ratchet-wheel 14, to rotate the escapement-shaft 13. The effectof this is to rotate the escapement-wheel 18 and cause it to turn therocker about its pivot by a tooth acting upon the pawl 19, thusdepressing or moving the cletent-arm 20 out of the path of the arm 9 andallowing the spring 10 to protrude the bolt 9 into the path of the pins11 on the boss of the pulley. A pin 11 instantly engages the bolt 9 andsets the shaft 3 in motion. In the meantime, however, the tooth of theescapement-wheel will have passed the pawl 19 of the rocker and willhave allowed the nose on said pawl to engage the next notch in theescapement-wheel, thereby again setting the detentarm 20 into the pathof the arm 9 on the bolt. When the arm 9 again comes around, it impingeson the arm 20, and the effect is to withdraw the bolt 9 by imparting tothe latter a spiral rotation-that is to say, the bolt has imparted to ita movement about its axis and the camway 9" acts on the arm 9 in such amanner as to draw the bolt in or back. The purpose of this camway is toenable the force applied .in a direction at right angles to the axis ofthe bolt to move the latter longitudinally to a moderate extent.

The withdrawal of the bolt 9 disengages the clutch and the machinestops; but in order to prevent the momentum of the parts from carryingthe shaft beyond the precise point desired or beyond the starting-pointa brake is provided, which will now be described with especial referenceto Figs. 2 and 3.

Mounted on the bracket in the desired position is a brake-holder 22,carrying a curved metal plate 23, to which is secured a brakeshoe 2 1,of leather or other suitable soft material, placed in position to bearupon a raised brake-surface 1 on the rim of the crank disk or wheel at.This brake is so placed that when the shaft 3 has completed onerevolution it will come in play to overcome any momentum of the partsand instantly arrest the rotation. A set-screw 25 in the holder 22 andbearing upon the shoe-carrying plate 23 will regulate the brakingfriction as desired. The surface st is raised in order that the machineshall he free from brake friction except at one point in the rotation.

Obviously the pulley 7 may as well he a gear-wheel; but a pulley isordinarily employed for driving machines of this class. Obviously alsothe entire device may be mounted on the machine-frame in the positionbest suited for the purpose intended.

In order that the attendant may for any reason wish to permit themachine to make two or more consecutive operations before itstops, hemay do so by so depressing the treadle that the nose of the pawl 19 ofthe rocker shall rest on the flat end of a tooth of the escapement-wheel18, and thus hold the detcnt-arm 20 out of the path of the arm on thebolt 9. This is illustrated in Fig. 8.

Fig. 3 shows the rod 6 on the center at the starting and stopping point;but this is not important so far as the present invention is concerned.Fig. 2 shows the position of the parts at a moment before the arm 9impinges on the detentarm 20 and disengages the clutch.

The clutch-boss 8 is herein shown as separable from the shaft 3 andadapted to he keyed thereon; but this is not essential to the invention.Obviously it might be integral with the shaft.

The clutch-pins 11 may be any sort or kind of projections. The arm 9 mayhave in it a recess 9" to engage the detent-arm 20 and prevent it fromslipping too easily in the operation. The escapement-wheel 18 may beconsidered as a cam-wheel for imparting an oscillatory movement to therocker, and the arm 19 of the latter may have any suitable form. Asshown, it performs the functions of a spring detent-pawl to hold theshaft 13 steady.

The brake illustrated in the drawings and described in the specificationdoes not form an essential part of the present invention and is notherein claimed. Some brake for effecting the object is, however,desirable.

ICC

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination with arotativelymounted shaft, and a rotatable driving-wheel thereon having aclutch-pin, of a slidable and rotatably-mounted bolt carried around bythe shaft, a spring which normally protrudes said bolt into the path ofsaid clutch-pin, a cam which withdraws said bolt when the latter ispartially rotated, a detent normally disposed to partially rotate saidbolt and thus withdraw the latter at each revolution of the shaft, andmeans for shifting said detent to permit the clutch members to engage.

2. The combination with a rotatably-mounted shaft, and a rotatabledriving-wheel loose on said shaft and having clutch-pins, of anautomatic device for clutching the shaft to the said driving-wheel, saiddevice comprising a slidable bolt carried around by the shaft, a

spring which tends to protrude said bolt into the path of theclutch-pins, an operating-arm on said bolt for withdrawing it, a rockerpivotally mounted adjacent to said shaft and having a detent-armnormally in the path of the operating-arm on the bolt, arotatively-mounted, toothed escapement-wheel, the teeth of which areengaged by a pawl-arm on the rocker, the said pawl-arm, the spring ofsaid rocker, and means for imparting an intermittent rotary movement tothe escapementwheel for operating the rocker.

3. The combination with a rotatably-mounted shaft, and arotatably-mounted drivingwheel loose on said shaft and provided withclutch-pins, of an automatic clutchmechanism comprising a boss on androtating with said shaft adjacent to the clutch-pins in the wheel, abolt 9, mounted slidably in the boss and provided with alaterally-projecting arm 9, a spring which tends normally to protrudesaid bolt into its engaging position with the clutch-pins, means on theboss which moves the bolt endwise when it is rotated, a shaft 13, anescapement-wheel 18 on said shaft, a rocker provided with a spring, saidrocker having a pawl-arm 19 held in engagement with the escapement-wheelby said spring and a detentarm 20, held in the path of the arm 19 bysaid spring, and means for imparting intermittent rotation to saidescapement- Wheel to operate said rocker.

L. The combination with a rotatably-mounted shaft, and arotatably-mounted drivingwheel loose on said shaft and provided withsaid bolt into its engaging position with the clutch-pins, means on theboss which moves the bolt endwise when it is rotated, a shaft 13, anescapement-wheel 18 on said shaft, a rocker provided with a spring, saidrocker havinga pawl-arm 19 held in engagement with the escapement-wheelby said spring and a detent-arm 20, held in the path of the arm l9 bysaid spring, a ratchet-wheel l t on the shaft 13, a rocking lever 16 onsaid shaft, a pawl 15 on said lever and engaging the ratchetwheel, and arod 17 coupled to said lever for rocking it.

5. The combination, with the shaft 3, and a driving-wheel thereonprovided with clutchpins 11, of the boss 8 on the shaft, a springbolt 9slidable in a socket in said boss and provided with a lateral arm 9projecting laterally through an aperture in said boss, a cam 8 on theboss, a movable detent held by a spring in the path of said arm 9 forwithdrawing the bolt 9, and means for moving the said detent out of thepath of said arm.

6. In a clutch device, the combination with the driven clutch member, ofthe boss 8, having in it a bolt-socket, a lateral opening into saidsocket, a cam 8 at the margin of said opening, a removable plate 8closingthe rear or inner end of the socket, and a pin 12 on said plate;a tubular bolt 9 vrotatable and slidable in said socket, a spring 10 onsaid pin and engaging the socket in the bolt, and an arm 9 on the boltand protruding from the aperture in the boss.

7 In a clutch device, the spring-rocker having a detent-arm 20 andpawl-arm 19, the escapement-shaft, the escapement-wheel 18 thereon,having teeth with broad tips on which the pawl of the rocker may rest,and

means for imparting intermittent rotation to presence of two subscribingwitnesses,

' EDWIN BALL STIMPSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY CoNNE'rT, WILLIAM J. FIRTH.

